When biomolecular chemistry professor Josh Coon, also an investigator at the Morgridge Institute, first started developing scientific instruments to measure molecules in living systems, his criteria for finding partners on the UW–Madison campus were simple and clear. “We were technology people interested in making better measurements, and we needed cool projects to help us push …
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Folds in pUG Molecules Turn Off Genes and Could Provide Clues about Human Disease
Genes. They’re what control the way living things look and even function, what eye color they may have and even what diseases they may live with. Scientists have worked for decades to understand how some genes get switched on while others are switched off, or silenced, determining which traits are expressed. In a study recently …
IPiB Thesis Defense Dec. 12: Josh Mitchell
Eosinophils (EOS) have broad immunomodulatory and inflammatory effects — these white blood cells are implicated in eosinophilic asthma, eradicating parasitic infections, involvement in the gut microbiome and tumor microenvironment, and more — yet scientists still don’t have a complete understanding of how they are activated, or how they release granular content and deliver their noxious …
IPiB Thesis Defense Dec. 8: Edrees Rashan
Edrees (Eddie) Rashan became interested in the life sciences as a college sophomore. He’d heard of DNA but never really appreciated what it looked like, how it was made, or the characteristics that make it so important to life. He eventually switched majors from engineering to biochemistry to learn about biomolecules and how they function …
IPiB Thesis Defense Dec. 2: Sophie Lewandowski
Insulin is secreted by the pancreas in response to elevated blood glucose levels. Insufficient amounts of insulin can result in Type II diabetes, while excess can lead to hypoglycemia — both life-threatening conditions. Sophie Lewandowski, an IPiB graduate student in the Merrins Lab, studies how pyruvate kinase fits into insulin secretion and regulation. Pyruvate kinase, …
Simcox Receives American Federation for Aging Research Grant for Junior Faculty
The American Federation of Aging Research (AFAR) and the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research have announced recipients of the 2022 Glenn Foundation for Medical Research and AFAR Research Grants for Junior Faculty. The Research Grant for Junior Faculty provides an early career investigator with up to $125,000 for one to two years to support research …
IPiB Thesis Defense Nov. 11: Peyton Spreacker
Antibiotic resistance is one of the great public health problems of our time. Since Peyton Spreacker joined IPiB as a member of the Henzler-Wildman Lab, she has been studying the role multidrug efflux proteins play in this phenomenon. “We know that these proteins can take drugs out of bacterial cells, making them less effective,” says …
A New Tactic in the Superbug Battle
Associate professor of biochemistry Vatsan Raman is “supercharging evolution” to create an army of bacteria-killing phages that can combat antibiotic-resistant microorganisms.
IPiB Thesis Defense Nov. 4: Miguel Angel Osorio Garcia
Cell survival hinges on a host of processes, one of which is DNA repair. Though research has shown that the RadD protein plays an important role in processing damaged or branched DNA in E. coli, previous efforts to demonstrate DNA unwinding activity for RadD have failed. Miguel Angel Osorio Garcia, an IPiB graduate student in …
IPiB Graduate Student Named Recipient of First CALS B.R. DasGupta Graduate Award
Nithesh Chandrasekharan has been named one of the first recipients of the B.R. DasGupta Graduate Award. The award provides $5,000 to an international graduate student enrolled in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in bacteriology, biochemistry, food science, or microbiology. Dr. Vijoya (Joya) DasGupta established the award in memory of her late husband Bibhuti …